


Upon the Road

by Bandity



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blood, Canonical Character Death, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Nausea, Nudity, Panic Attacks, Violence, injuries, surprisingly nobody pukes, talk of underage nudity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-28
Updated: 2019-01-28
Packaged: 2019-10-18 12:13:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,845
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17580620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bandity/pseuds/Bandity
Summary: Honestly, he hadn't had the highest hopes for the evening.But Lance didn't think he would end up bleeding and trying hard not to cry- because God he might throw up- in a storage closet/jail cell tonight. No, it was definitely not how he thought this trip was going to go.





	Upon the Road

**Author's Note:**

> Very quickly written because I got this idea that I needed to write and I only have so much time.
> 
> Written for everyone who grieves.

_And I try to keep my eyes upon the road_

_And remember all the stories that you told_

_I'm sorry that you'll never grow old_

_So I walk, yeah I walk_

_-O.A.R. I Miss you all the Time_

 

"Shiro!" 

Shiro winced without meaning to and then went still.

"You alright?" Curtis had stopped talking immediately, noticing the way Shiro’s breath caught.

"Pidge." Shiro forced out in explanation. Curtis looked around, not seeing what he was talking about, not hearing what Shiro had picked up in the crowd.

"Shiro! Shiro!"

"Something's wrong."

"Shiro, are you sure?" Because Shiro sometimes heard things that weren't there. And Curtis tried his best to always talk him down from those times. But he was still learning and he wasn't always able to help. 

"I'm sure!" Shiro snapped. Shiro was searching the crowd frantically now, turning one way and then the other. Curtis looked around, still not seeing-

Pidge came bursting through the crowd, panting and sweating. 

"Shiro, help! Lance and Keith got in trouble."

"Trouble?"

"Yeah, shit." Pidge took a deep breath before continuing. "I got away before they got me too."

"What are you talking about?" Shiro put his hand on her shoulder and began directing her to the side of the walkway, where there was less traffic.

"Oh man, Shiro, it's pretty bad. Lance is really bad."

Bad or good. That was how they reported to each other about one another's states. They checked in as much as they could. Lance was checked on more than the others. He was the only one who was always on Earth; it was easy to drop by his family’s farm. After a check in, they would all message each other simply stating if someone was good or bad. Bad would earn another follow up visit from another paladin and the visits cycled through all of them. 

"Where?" Shiro was already moving in the direction Pidge had come from.

"They said they would take them to a holding room. Lance head butted security."

"They got arrested."

"Well, yeah." 

Shiro picked up his pace. "Show me where." 

They walked through crowds, careful to keep Pidge out of sight from any official looking workers. Pidge explained the turn of events in quick, breathless spurts. Shiro kept his anger in check as the story unfolded. He couldn't be brash; he needed to take care of his team first. 

Soon they were standing in front of a small, flat, grey building that didn't look intimidating in any way. The base of festival operations wasn't large enough for its purpose of being an event central and a jail. Pidge had started to march up the smooth grey steps before Shiro pulled her back. 

"They're looking for you still." Shiro nodded towards Curtis, who had been following silently, trying to be supportive, but feeling out of his depth. "Go with Curtis, find Matt and Hunk, stay together." 

Pidge wanted to disagree, but Shiro was giving orders again and she knew it was in her best interest. And she didn't _want_ to actually be arrested. 

"Keep her safe."

Pidge blinked, realizing Shiro was staring hard at Curtis. She wanted to argue, she could take care of herself after all, but Shiro looked so serious and Curtis looked startled of all things. He blinked and then cleared his throat and nodded, suddenly very serious.

"I will." 

Something important passed between them and then Shiro was walking quickly away, into the building and out of sight. 

Trust.

Shiro trusted Curtis. He trusted him with his team. 

By the expression on Curtis' face, it looked like he had just realized it. And he knew how important that was. He looked honored and slightly terrified all at once.

"Help me find Matt?" Pidge elbowed him slightly. Curtis jumped, but quickly recovered.

"Yeah, I mean yes. Yes, we will find him."

Together, they disappeared into the mass of people bustling around them.

 

* * *

 

Lance thought he was doing good. Despite the looks the others gave him sometimes.

And the way his family either tiptoed around subjects or blatantly told him to talk about it.

Veronica was more persistent than his other siblings. 

Because she had been the first to really meet Allura and that made her seem like the more obvious choice to get him to talk.

It wasn't like he hadn't talked about it.

From that first conversation with Coran to when he was finally back home crying in his mother's arms and blurting out things he didn’t even remember saying now.

But he had talked and expressed himself and now he just wanted to go forward. Their family farm was really starting to come together, he visited new Altea as often as he could…

This life was fine.

But still everyone insisted on visiting him and he knew they talked about him. 

He had figured out their schedule months ago. 

Shiro, Pidge, Hunk, Keith. Coran would then call him. Sometimes Keith wouldn't make it out and they skipped him so it cycled back to Shiro faster. There was even a guest room at his family house for whichever friend's turn it was.

The time between their visits varied, they all had lives to attend to after all. 

Not that Lance didn't have a life. 

His was just-

It was just quieter than theirs. 

It was fine.

But he'd been quieter lately, not even playing with his niece and nephew as much. And when the family had all gone out to some gathering or another he elected to stay home. 

Veronica caught him talking quietly to the stars one night and he hoped she would understand. Not make it a big deal or ask any questions. He thought she understood.

But then Shiro was calling him. And Pidge and Hunk and the others and he stopped answering. 

Hunk and Pidge showed up together then and they begged him to come to a festival on some planet he didn't know. One of those refugee planets that held a variety of beings who had found themselves homeless after the war.

Denari 5 was supposed to be having the biggest celebration, celebrating peaceful life and a successful harvest after the war. 

Lance had said no.

Because it sounded like Clear Day and the last time they had been at something like that, Allura had stayed behind and maybe he should have stayed with her. So why make that mistake again-

"It would be good for Keith and Shiro. They've been working too hard and if you come they'll have to come too." Pidge insisted.

"Yeah, they wouldn't miss a chance for us to all be together again."

Lance had blinked and fought back the grimace from his face. _All_ together again. Right.

"I don't know,” Lance cleared his throat and looked away. “I got to help with the cows and we have new crops to harvest too."

"It would really help us out!" Pidge had grabbed his arm. "Please?"

Lance had sighed, but in the end he nodded and Hunk had hugged him hard after that.

So they had picked him up a few days later, insisting on traveling together. 

Matt was there and Curtis, Shiro's officer and undeclared something or other. Lance smiled at the way the two of them were finding their footing. He had never seen Shiro blush or even smile quite like that.

He hoped for the best for them.

The festival had been crowded and they split up to cover more ground. Hunk had gone in search of a specific spice and the others went their own way, with a promise to meet up again for a meal. Lance and Pidge had ended up walking along the little stalls featuring traders and sellers from all over. 

Crafts and merchandise from every part of the galaxy filled tables and boxes and the arms of buyers. 

Lance had stared too long at a pink lion figurine, before Pidge pulled him away to look at the woven blankets. 

"You said you get cold at night, right?" Pidge prompted, urging him to look at the colorful material. He shrugged. He thought he had said something about feeling cold in the middle of the night, but he was pretty sure he had only told Shiro that. 

Cold perhaps hadn't been the right word to begin with.

Still, he admired the fabric and forced a smile when the shopkeeper recognized him. 

"Take one, any you like." 

Lance shook his head, but blue-green fabric was being shoved into his hands and he nodded his thanks. He tried to pay, but the merchant shook her large head. 

"For a Paladin of Voltron, it is all I can give. It is an honor."

Lance felt his throat tighten unexpectedly. He forced another nod and walked quickly away. Pidge fell into step beside him, her shoulder bumping his arm as they moved down the line. 

They moved until the lanterns became fewer and the crowds among the stalls thinned out. 

The yelling and noise from the vendors quelled and instead of one great cacophony, Lance could actually hear them call out their specific wares now.

"We should head back, it's almost time to meet up with the others." Pidge tugged at his sleeve to get his attention.

Lance began to turn.

"Enjoy our Princess Allura collection!"

He froze. 

“The Paladin Princess as you've never seen her!"

Lance whipped back around. 

His eyes sought out the table, the voice, who was talking? Which one? 

"Fine, never before seen photos! Only twenty-now, now, friend, only a peek, if you want to see more than you'll have to buy!"

Lance saw the merchant waving away an unfamiliar alien from his stall. 

"No gawkers! Move along unless you intend to purchase. I guarantee our holos are completely real and-"

Lance was standing in front of the table, unaware of how he had gotten there.

The stall was dark, only lit by the projected blurry holographic images that flashed from small coaster size devices along the table. 

_Allura._

But not her.

She wasn't shaped that way she hadn't looked- another image flashed and Lance flinched. 

She wasn't wearing anything at all in that one.

"Hello! I have many to choose from! All real images I assure you!"

Lance stared at the seller, a frog faced short being with a wide toothy grin. 

Pidge was pulling his arm, trying to stop what was about to happen.

"Oh, wait a moment! You're a paladin! I didn't recognize you at first, the princess is the most popular seller after all, but-"

Everything went dark around the edges and there was a roaring in his ears. Lance felt his fist connecting with teeth before he registered what he was doing. The table was flipped and those damned holos went everywhere. But Lance didn't see them anymore.

He was shouting and his fists were flying and the alien yelled for help before Lance found his windpipe and put pressure on it.

Arms were around him suddenly and he was being hauled off the merchant.

Lance kicked and balked and swore. 

More hands were on him and he thrust his forehead into the closest object. Someone's nose by the sound of it. 

People were shouting. Pidge was yelling something. There was a familiar streak of dark hair that skirted his periphery and the ones who were holding him let out painful shouts before he was dropped. 

Lance was still fighting and he got in one good punch across Keith's chin before he realized what he had done.

"It's me!" Keith grabbed his wrist before Lance could lash out again. "It's me! Keith!" 

For a moment, Lance breathed and he pointed at the ruined stall of the merchant. He was going to explain himself. That creep had been selling fake pictures of Allura. Explicit and wrong and people were buying them and after she had done, what she had- how could they?

Lance started crying.

He shut his eyes and pointed again, but he was robbed of his voice as only a violent sob escaped him. 

Pidge's voice piped up instead and Lance couldn't catch it all, but she must have explained because Keith let Lance go and left him trying to catch his breath in the middle of the walkway.

There was a crunching noise and Lance opened his eyes to Pidge crushing a holoprojector under her foot. Keith was doing the same thing. Finding the things and stomping them into oblivion.

The loud rushing in Lance's head left, replaced by the sounds of his friends' efforts. 

He could see them stomping the ground and crushing those horrible things out of existence.

Lance didn't know what had happened to the seller. Did he get away? Was he unconscious in the shadows?

Lance took a step forward.

Pain exploded from his right temple and he was shoved to the ground before he could do anything to stop it.

He let out a shout and was kicked in the face. 

There was pain and blood flowing from his nostrils and he writhed to get away. 

"You're being detained!" A voice shouted in his ear and he really didn't care if this was the planet’s version of police. From the sound of things, Keith and Pidge didn't give a shit either. 

Lance took another hit to the head and the world went back to being dim and fuzzy, a jumble mess that he couldn't make sense of.

Fine. It was easier to deal with everything this way anyway.

* * *

 

Honestly, he hadn't had the highest hopes for the evening. 

But Lance didn't think he would end up bleeding and trying hard not to cry- because God he might throw up- in a shitty storage closet/jail cell tonight. No, it was definitely not how he thought this trip was going to go.

"You have to lean forward," Keith prompted him. 

Lance grumbled a response. The blood bubbling up in his throat a sign that it had been slipping down his pharynx. Lance was trying to pinch his nose to get it to stop with little success. Blood steadily dripped from his nostrils and kept getting in his mouth.

His shirt was ruined.

Keith hadn't really said much else since they had both been thrown in here, but he sat close on the floor with him. 

"Sorry," Lance croaked out, his voice cracking and coming out like a scrambled transmission.

"Huh? For what?"

Lance made a vague motion at the small room. It was dimly lit, only had the one door and, besides the two of them, the only thing it contained was a slight chemical smell. He was pretty sure it was usually a cleaning closet.

"I don't regret it." Keith shrugged. "I'd do it again, probably would have fought harder if i'd known what it had been about since the beginning."

Lance wanted to laugh, but he knew it would hurt. Keith had seen Lance being taken on by festival security and he had just immediately started punching people, not even knowing what it had been about.

If Lance and Pidge were fighting with others, than those other people must be in the wrong, Keith didn't need to ask questions.

"Once you feel a bit better, we can get out of here." 

"Arrested," Lance forced out.

"Yeah, but _festival_ arrested. They don't even have handcuffs. I'm pretty sure I can break down that door." Keith paused thoughtfully. "Need to stop and get my weapons though. They took all my stuff."

Lance didn't respond, instead he leaned further forward and watched dots of blood spatter the floor.

He swallowed, feeling the nausea building in his throat. He breathed through his mouth slowly, trying to get it to stop. 

The suffocating room and the inability to breathe through his nose caused panic to flutter in his chest. 

Drip, drip, drip...

Little dots of red filled his vision.  

His mind went numb and he felt like he was not there. He couldn't think, he couldn't move, all he could do was stare at nothing, but all the red that filled up everything. 

He must have made some kind of strangled sound because Keith had put a hand on his back. 

And he was pretty sure Keith was saying something, but Lance couldn't process the sounds that got tangled up in his head. 

He felt a warmth on his face and he wondered if the marks were glowing or if he was crying and warm tears were slipping down his face. He thought he might be saying something because it sounded as though Keith was responding to someone and he was the only one here. 

He felt Allura's name slip past his lips and Keith wrapped an arm around his shoulders and pulled him in closer. 

Lance began to lean into him, but he hesitated.

"I'll get-get blood on you," he choked out.

"You're fine, I don't care." Keith wrapped his other arm around Lance too. 

Lance leaned into the embrace, his face partially smashed into Keith's chest. It hurt, but his vision filled with a gentle dark. Keith's fingers pressed a little too harshly into his arm, but he was relieved at the sensation. He was here. He wasn't okay. Nothing was okay right now. But he could draw in breaths and the loud static making his head fuzzy quelled down to a soft humming. 

He could exist right now.

The door to their flimsy prison opened with a snap and Lance felt Keith tense and then relax immediately.

"Shiro." 

Lance blinked his eyes opened and turned his head to get a better look. Things were still blurred around the edges and he felt like his eyes were swelling from crying and blunt trauma, but that was Shiro standing there in the light, looking furious. 

When he caught Lance's glance, his features softened and his eyes filled with concern. Not mad at him and Keith then. 

Good.

Shiro knelt down, but he turned his head quickly at whoever was standing in the doorway. 

"If you shut that door, I'm going to break it down. Save yourself some trouble and just walk away."

Shiro looked back at Lance, concern flooding his face once more.

"Is it broken?" Shiro reached out, fingers barely brushing Lance's chin. 

"Maybe. One of those assholes kicked him in the face."

"Pidge told me."

"She okay?" Keith loosened his hold on Lance, able to relax now that there was more of their support system there.

"She's mad, but she's okay." Shiro set a hand on Lance's shoulder. "She told me what happened." 

Lance frowned. He was going to defend his actions. Maybe he had acted too harshly, he had probably been going to kill that guy, but he was just so furious! No, he shouldn't have beaten him so badly, he should have found a different way to fix it. There had to be rules against what he was doing. What he was selling. It was fake and disrespectful and he didn't realize he could get that angry anymore.

He couldn't even say the violence was satisfying.

He just felt lost.

"Are you alright?" Shiro was trying to catch his eye, but Lance stared at the floor. 

"I don't know," Lance's voice caught at the end. He had always told them he was fine. Good. Everything was good. But now he was bleeding and hurting in so many ways. 

He couldn't push it away. 

He was supposed to be fine. War, love, life, loss, it had made him an adult. Not a kid anymore. He shouldn't feel so lost. 

He was a Paladin and he was strong, brave even. 

_She would want you to be happy, she is still with you, not really gone, were you two really close? I never knew, she's all around really, she's at peace, at least you got to say goodbye, in time you will feel better,_

move along unless you intend to purchase,

_time heals all wounds, everyone has lost someone important to them, you get used to it, you'll adapt to the new normal, at least she is with her family now-_

"I wanted to be her family." The words slipped out without his consent.

Lance burst into harsh sobs.

And it hurt. God, it hurt so badly. It felt as though he was being kicked in the face all over again and his chest ached so deeply that he thought his heart was going to rip itself apart. 

He couldn't stop crying this time and the blood and the tears all mixed together as they dropped from his chin.

"It's okay, Lance. It's okay." Shiro had put his hand on the side of his neck and put pressure there. "Lean forward, okay? You're going to choke on the blood." Shiro reached into his pocket and pulled out a handkerchief. "Here."

Shiro began gently wiping tears and blood from his face. 

"It's going to be okay." Shiro carefully wiped tears from over Lance's markings. "Try to breathe. I don't want you to make it worse."

Lance took in great shuddering breaths, trying to get a hold of himself. 

"We need to get you checked out. You took a hit to the head, right?" Shiro's flesh fingers carded gently through his hair, brushing against the bump that had formed there. "We're going to go, when you're ready. Take your time."

Lance forced a small nod and continued trying to breathe regularly.

"They're not going to try and keep us?" Keith asked.

"No, I've had words with them. They can't keep any of us. Not even if they tried really. You all are not allowed to come back here, but neither is that merchant." 

"I knew I heard you shouting out there earlier." Keith smirked, looking proud. "You sounded very convincing."

Lance hadn't heard any shouting. He wondered if Keith had tried to tell him before when he was having his earlier break down. 

Shiro sighed at the blood still dripping from Lance's nose. He wiped again at Lance's mouth, keeping it clear.

"That jerk's not allowed back?" Lance wanted to be sure he had heard that correctly.

"No, no he is not." Shiro's mouth twitched into a frown. "Public figures aren't protected from things like that in this part of the Galaxy," Shiro glanced back at the open doorway, maybe someone had walked by, Lance couldn't tell, "but minors are. And even if you all don’t fall under that category, Pidge does.”

Something twisted in Lance's stomach. He had thought there had been images of the others, of himself, but at the time that hadn't been his primary concern. He didn't care about his own reputation, but protecting Allura? Protecting his team? He would do that until his last breath.

"It's going to be okay, Lance."

"I know." Everyone had told him that at some point after all. "It's going to be okay. But I- I don't know how to get there from here."

"Together." Shiro answered without hesitation. "With help from people who love you. We'll get there together."

Lance sighed, feeling warmth still trickling from his nostrils. Shiro cleared it away quickly. 

They sat like that for a long time. Lance felt Keith's hand, heavy and grounding in the middle of his back and Shiro's gentle ministrations that calmed him and helped him feel the smallest bit better. 

"I think it stopped." Shiro took the cloth away and studied Lance's face. Lance could tell by his expression that he must have looked like shit. Shiro worried so much about him. 

"You actually carry a handkerchief?" Lance's voice was thready and forced, but there was a gentle humor there. 

Shiro's mouth quirked down in a slight frown. "Not always."

Only on special occasions then.

"Shiro's an-" Lance winced at a twinge of pain, "an old fashioned gentleman. I'll tell Curtis." Lance forced his faint, hurt smile back in place.

Keith breathed out a laugh at Shiro's look of embarrassment. It had been a long time since anyone could tease Shiro over something like that.

It was good.

Their retired leader quickly collected himself and changed the subject.

"We should try some ice on this. Are you feeling up to moving?"

"Yeah," Lance started to force himself up. "Let's get the hell out of here."

"Wait, let me help you." Keith helped pull him to his feet and then slung Lance's arm over his shoulders. Lance wanted to protest, say he didn't need to lean on him, but once he took a step he found that the little room tilted dangerously to the side.

"Thank you," Lance whispered. "Both of you, thank you." 

"Like I said, I’d do it again," Keith responded with a shrug. Lance smiled and leaned on Keith.

Together they walked out.

* * *

 

Pidge had been busy. She had found Matt and told him what had happened. They then hacked into the festival's computer system, found the list of vendors, found the seller in question and everything they could about him. The Holts were able to find his main computer and storage and we're working on deleting everything. They were trying their best to ruin his life, but they only had so much time. Matt begun setting something up that would alert him if any other images were ever sent like that of any of them in the future. Curtis was a bit terrified of everything they had managed to do. But he watched their backs all the same, making sure they didn't get caught when they hacked into the festival system. 

They found Hunk along the way and he was shocked about what had happened when they had split up.

“I knew something happened when you guys didn’t show up at our meeting spot!” Hunk spent the rest of the evening in a state of panic. Pidge enlisted Hunk to help her find the blanket Lance had been given. He had dropped it before attacking that merchant. Once it was found, Pidge brushed it off and carried it close.

When Shiro, Keith and Lance appeared through the crowd, Hunk had started to go in to hug Lance, but when he saw his friend’s face, he stopped short.

“They hurt you that badly? How could they do that? How-“

“I’m okay. I just want to go home, Hunk.” Lance was leaning heavily on Keith, his energy spent.

Pidge then shoved the blanket into Lance's hand.

"You dropped this."

Lance took it and nodded his thanks. He looked terrible, worse than the last time she had seen him even. His nose and eyes had swollen and he would probably end up with two black eyes.

"Did you bite someone? I feel like I remember someone yelling that you bit them."

"Yes, I did. Guard tried to put a hand over my mouth. His mistake."

Lance smiled. “I’m glad you’re okay.”

Pidge threw an arm around his waist.

“What about you? Does it hurt a lot?” Pidge peered up at his face curiously.

“I’ve had worse.” Lance shrugged one of his shoulders. Pidge made a face, but she didn’t say anymore.

Without another word, they walked back to their waiting shuttle. Once they were underway, Lance had curled up on one of the cots in the tiny infirmary space. They insisted he put a cold pack over his face to try and reduce the swelling. Lance complied, even though it was uncomfortable. Shivering, he pulled his new blanket over him. It was soft and it appeared to glisten softly in the light.

Hunk came and sat down on the floor next to the bed. He took Lance’s hand and held his cold fingers until they warmed.

“Shiro says you might have a concussion. Don’t sleep yet.”

Lance sighed, but didn’t say anything.

“Lance?” Hunk squeezed his fingers.

“Hmm?” Lance was just resting his poor eyes, not sleeping.

“I’m sorry.”

Lance’s eyes fluttered back open. He moved the cold pack so he could see his friend.  “What for, Hunk?”

Hunk shrugged. “Not being around. I haven’t been a good friend.”

“Hunk,” Lance started to shake his head, but regretted it. “You’re a great friend, but you have your own life. You don’t need to be around me all the time. I’m okay.”

“Are you sure? Because-”

“Look, next time I get arrested, I’ll make sure you’re there with me, deal?”

Hunk didn’t look completely satisfied with that response, but he nodded. Lance didn’t want to talk about it anymore, but Hunk wasn’t quite finished.

“Lance?”

“Yeah?”

“I just want you to be okay.”

Lance sighed again. He gave his friend’s fingers a weak squeeze.

“I am okay, Hunk. Maybe not… good. But I’m okay. Really.”

Hunk nodded. Getting Lance to openly admit that he was anything but ‘good’ was something at least. Hunk knew Lance was strong. He would keep moving forward until he was in a better place. It was all any of them could ever do.

And if a few silent tears fell down Lance’s face, well, he wasn’t going to say anything about them.

Hunk held tightly to Lance’s hand the entire way home.

The end.

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to say that this is not any kind of stance against the fanartists who draw any of the Voltron characters explicitly or in an explicit manner. I'm very much for freedom of expression and do not want to be involved in any kind of debate. That's all. Everyone have a great day!


End file.
